A study published online by the journal Science Translational Medicine discusses a new experimental treatment for a rare, deadly leukemia (blood cancer) that can send the disease into remission even in those patients for whom the standard therapy has failed. Such a treatment can buy patients more time to have a stem cell transplant that could save their lives. This study was only a small pilot study, but these findings are potentially revolutionary.
“It was unbelievable, really, seeing a patient who had already failed Campath [the drug typically used to treat the disease] literally going back into remission,” said Thomas P. Loughran Jr., MD, the director of the University of Virginia Cancer Center, who also served as one of the lead researchers of this study. “We were able to get every single patient back into remission.”
This new approach for battling T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia combines immunotherapy, which boosts the body’s…
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